Utilizing Accident and Incident Data for Training

March 2010

After any accident or severe process upset occurs, an investigation is generally undertaken to analyze the incident and determine its root cause. The collected information is generally compiled into an accident or incident report. These reports are not ideal training material. Reviewing accident reports, although valuable in itself, is not the same as training. There is no way to know if all who could benefit from the information in the report have actually read it, let alone understood it. Converting the report into a clear and concise training program, complete with evaluative functions, assures that any lessons to be learned from an incident or accident are successfully understood and applied by all who could benefit.

Praxis has explored many different methods for converting such reports into computer-based training. The most successful method uses computer modeling and animation to visually show people how a particular accident developed and occurred. The animation is coupled with a timeline to show when certain events took place, as well as an on-going narrative that describes the conditions of the accident and emphasizes the critical junctures at which it could have been avoided. Praxis has developed a number of these accident animations for clients, including BP and Lyondell.

Click here to view example incident animations 

A second method involves the use of captured or reconstructed process data, either collected by a DCS data historian, or based on information collected from operators. This data is then used to create a simulation of an incident or process upset. Console operators can then be trained on this simulation, allowing them to experience the conditions leading up to an incident, and take steps to recover from it. Exercises can also be developed around this simulation. This allows trainees to experience the incident dynamically, and gives them the opportunity to practice and hone their skills. It is also important to recognize that communication between units and operators is a critical part of successful operations, because of this, some sort of simulated communications must be considered as part of an incident training simulator.

We have built simulations of this type based on reconstructed and captured process data, although they have not been developed specifically for incident training purposes. They can be run on an ordinary PC from a local drive, or over a network or the internet. Although the simulations are not of the highest fidelity, they are more than accurate enough for training purposes. An advantage of these simulations is that they can be controlled by a scripting language to generate certain simulated events which form the basis of training exercises. These event scenarios recreate the conditions of a particular incident but allow trainees to make control moves freely. This gives trainees an opportunity to experience an incident or upset condition, and also apply their own skills in order to recover from it. CBT-style training content can also be integrated into the simulation, either before, during, or after a scenario, or it can be prompted by user actions during a simulation. Additionally all of the trainees actions and control moves are recorded by a data collection system. These results can be evaluated in a multitude of ways to provide insights into a trainees strengths and weaknesses.